Bertie Ahern to return to Ukraine for peace talks

Former taoiseach acting as an unpaid facilitator with Crisis Management Initiative

Bertie Ahern has been on two trips to Ukraine this month to take part in talks aimed at ending the violence there. Sources close to the former taoiseach said he would be travelling to the country again, probably in the coming weeks. Photograph: David Sleator

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern is expected to travel again to Ukraine in the coming weeks to take part in peace talks after visiting the eastern European country twice in the past month.

Mr Ahern is acting as an unpaid facilitator with Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a non-profit organisation. He was in Kiev last week meeting leaders of February’s demonstrations.

Mr Ahern has been on two trips this month to take part in talks aimed at ending the violence, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

Sources close to the former taoiseach last night said he would be travelling to the country again, probably in the coming weeks.

The CMI was founded by Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. He was also a weapons inspector when the IRA decommissioned its arms during the peace process.

Mr Ahern was reported as saying he “walked freely” around the Maidan, the main square in Kiev, where 82 people were killed in demonstrations last February.

He also said he was working with other internationally known people, whose identity he declined to disclose.